Rachel Simmons grew up in Port Tampa and Bradenton, two communities located in the Tampa Bay Area. She attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida completing an Honors degree in studio art in 1997 where she studied printmaking and painting at Rollins under Bosnian artist Tanja Softic. After graduating, she left for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she completed an MFA under the guidance of painters Michael Crespo and Edward Pramuk at Louisiana State University. In 2000, Rachel returned to her alma mater Rollins College as a professor of studio art. At Rollins, she has been actively involved in connecting the studio arts curriculum to the local community through specialized service-learning courses and collaborative art projects.  Last year she journeyed to Antarctica to make work about climate change and ecotourism and she heads back this December with a group of her colleagues. Rachel is beginning her 10th year of teaching at Rollins and will readily admit she has the best job in the world.

In the last few years, Rachel’s work has been exhibited in Florida at the Orlando Museum of Art, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum in Winter Park and the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, in New York at the Ceres Gallery as well as abroad in Piacenza, Italy at the Pulcheria Arte exhibition of international women artists and at the 2005 Florence Biennale. Her work was recently on display at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center and The Florida Craftsmen Gallery.


Rachel’s 06-07 body of work entitled "Wonders” urges viewers to consider how human activities are negatively impacting the ocean. This work was on exhibit as part of the L.A. Design Center’s group show “stream” and on display as a solo exhibition at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum in 2007 and in 2008 at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Gallery.


CV/Bio

Statement, Traveling Companions

Art Space Talk: Interview with Rachel Simmons

Bibliography


Contact Information

rsimmons4@mac.com

Studio @ Rollins College

Department of Art and Art History

1000 Holt Ave. #2676

Winter Park, FL 32789

407-646-2397 office


Email to set up a studio visit.